


The Light of Knowledge

by LiterallyThePresident



Series: Connection [12]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Gus shows affection by infodumping, References to Lovecraft, can be interpreted as romantic or platonic, the usual, they discuss humans like “is that fucked up or what”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26313985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.“ -H.P Lovecraft
Relationships: Gus Grav & Spectra Phantom | Keith Fermin, Gus Grav/Spectra Phantom | Keith Fermin
Series: Connection [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566988
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55





	The Light of Knowledge

“What are you doing?” Gus startled as Spectra’s voice came from behind him, turning back to look at his master’s raised eyebrow. 

“Reading.” he held out the plane of text emitting from his padd, glowing softly in the dim light. Spectra glanced at it idly, taking in the foreign language and the translated version alongside it, his eyes drifting back up to him with a look of exasperated amusement. 

“A human book?” he drawled, “Are you truly that bored?”

“It’s... interesting.” he admitted sheepishly, “Humans are primitive when it comes to technological advancement but they really went off with their entertainment.” His interest in human literature had started as wanting to understand their foe, reading war books and tactical guides, but eventually his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and before he knew it he’d gotten absorbed in human poetry, short stories, myths and legends, and fiction. Fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole, so to speak. He understood that reference now, even if the story it originated from had infuriated him with its absurdity and lack of any scrap of sense. He’d sent it to Volt so he could suffer as he did, and the angry essay he’d received in response had been well worth it.

“Do tell.” Spectra rolled his eyes, dismissive yet indulgent at the same time, as he so often was when it was just the two of them. 

“Like, listen to the first paragraph of this book.” Gus said, scrolling back to the first page, “It was written like a century ago, and the language kinda shows it, but it sure does grab your attention from the first paragraph.”

“Alright then, Gus.” he took a seat opposite him, waving him to go ahead, “Read to me.” Gus brightened, clearing his throat and brushing a lock of hair behind his ear as he began. 

_ “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” _ he started, his voice quiet and lilting,  _ “We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” _ Spectra raised an eyebrow as he listened, unimpressed. 

“Science bad, knowledge scary?” he chuckled, “How... primitive. Though I don’t know what I expected from a people who think shadows are frightening.”

“I don’t think it’s like that.” Gus shook his head, “From what I’ve seen of this guy’s work, he’s more about the fear of the unknown and a cosmic sort of dread.”

“Cosmic sort of dread?” he echoed dryly.

“Yeah, humans are weird.” he nods, “They have this sick fascination with the macabre and horrific. They have entire genres of media dedicated to being as frightening as possible, to the point where they’ll actually complain that a movie isn’t scary enough.”

“Sounds like they’re just begging to be invaded.” he commented, and Gus snickered.

“Yeah, probably.” he said, “But this Lovecraft guy’s whole thing is cosmic entities beyond comprehension, terrible unknowable creatures that are on another level of existence completely, to the point that just catching a glimpse of them or hearing a whisper of their voice is enough to drive a person to complete insanity because the mind can’t handle it.”

“That is... admittedly intriguing.” he grudgingly admitted, “That kind of power could be useful. If it existed.”

“It does seem a little wild to think about.” Gus agreed, “Makes me wonder how they manage, if they see horrors everywhere they look.”

“What does the correlation of knowledge have to do with madness?” Spectra asked, grudgingly curious despite himself. Gus thought for a moment, considering his words before he spoke.

“I actually had a conversation with one of the brawlers about it.” he finally said, ignoring Spectra’s incredulous look, “Kazami explained it really well. He said to imagine an insect colony is under attack, and they have never before seen a person. Then one day, into the colony, a huge fingernail shoves in, scraping and digging and destroying everything. The insects flee to another entrance, only to be confronted by a staring eye gazing at them. They climb to the top trying to escape, and above them they can see the vast dark shadow of a boot falling upon them. Would those insects be able to construct these things into the form of a single being? Or would it believe itself to be under attack by three different, but very distinct assailants?"

“Profound, I suppose.” he shrugged, “And here I thought Neathians had too many philosophers.” Gus laughed at that, shrugging. 

“Now Kazami says that such ideas stemmed from the people of the time not knowing anything about the ocean and being terrified and awed by it.” he continued, encouraged, “Earth’s oceans were and apparently still are completely untamed, undomesticated, and largely unexplored, and as such has had a huge impact on their culture, history, and literature as this source of chaos and unfathomable darkness, the epitome of the fear of the unknown. Hence this author’s emphasis on cephalopods and dark oceanic depths. That’s really cool, and I think Kazami is probably right, but Marukura says that it’s just because Lovecraft was a massive racist, and the terrible unbearable knowledge he’s talking about is just ‘don’t be racist’.”

“You’ve just been chatting with all the Brawlers, haven’t you?” Spectra glared, earning a sheepish grin as Gus idly scrolled down the novel. 

“Apparently this particular writer was a huge piece of shit.” he laughed, “But his writing was good enough that it’s still referenced all these years later. It’s the same writer who said  _ ‘If I am mad, it is a mercy. May the gods pity the man who, in his callousness, can remain sane until the hideous end’ _ .”

“Nice quote. Very interesting, love the apparent human obsession with madness. I’m still amazed that you had an actual literary conversation with not one but two of our enemies.” Spectra said pointedly, and Gus flushed slightly.

“Vulcan likes when I read to him.” he justified, “This is just some new material. In fact, strangely enough, many bakugan resemble several mythical creatures in human lore. Like, there’s a mythical creature called a dragon that is almost exactly like Dan Kusou’s Dragonoid or Lync’s Altair, depending on which region of Earth you look at, and Hades is the name of both Shadow’s bakugan  _ and _ a human death god, which I’m sure Shadow will get a real kick out of.” Spectra listened to him talk, staring intently at him for a moment before sighing. 

“Just... be careful, Gus.” he said quietly, “I don’t want some pretty words and intriguing philosophical implications to lure you over to their side.”

“There’s no risk of that.” he said firmly, “My loyalty is to you alone, Master Spectra.”

“And I never grow tired of hearing it.” Spectra smirked, though a minute amount of tension drained from his shoulders. Gus gave him a small smile, wanting to reassure him.

“If it helps, Baron Leltoy is absolutely obsessed with human literature.” he tried, “More than I could ever be.” It was admittedly nice to be able to discuss what he’d read with a like minded individual, no matter that said individual was technically his enemy, “Ah! Did you know that humans evolved from primates? These hairy jungle creatures called apes that evolved in trees and grasslands, their ancestors walked on all fours, like ours. And the strangest thing, they consider fire to be the invention that kickstarted their society.”

“Makes sense, if the little things can’t see in the dark.” he muttered, remembering with an exaggerated shudder the wide eyed unseeing gaze of his enemy in that warehouse, “The light of a domesticated fire must have been groundbreaking.”

“I wonder if darkness has the same effect on them in their dreams.” he mused, and Spectra tilted his head. 

“Their what?” he asked, unfamiliar with the term, and Gus’ smile grew sharp, eyes gleaming. 

“You’re not gonna believe this.” he grinned, “So you know how we rarely see the human brawlers at night?”

Needless to say, the little revelation Gus gifted him occupied Spectra’s mind for days afterwards.


End file.
